There is considerable interest today in cross-connect switches for use in optical transport networks. Cross-connect switches are capable of routing different wavelength channels along different routes within the network. To do so, cross-connect switches typically employ various active wavelength network components. The use of active wavelength network components enables the reconfiguration of the networks in order to meet the changing network traffic demands and service requirements.
Conventional cross-connect switches typically work on a single bit rate. However, it would be highly beneficial if optical cross-connect switches could simultaneously operate on wavelength channels having different bit rates. In addition, it is important that cross-connect switches provide some degree of redundancy and protection switching in order to increase reliability and robustness of the network. Therefore, it is desirable to provide several architectural arrangements for cross-connect switches which address these as well as other network requirements.